Buy Me a Couch!

So I heard this story the other day…. Sales VP and a rep walk into an agency, ready to take the planning team out for lunch. They’re hoping to get to know these folks a little better and improve their odds of getting on the next campaign. But into the lobby walks not the planning team, but only it’s most junior member — let’s call her Caitlin. “Everybody else was too busy to get away today,” she says without a hint of genuine regret. “So they said that with the money you guys would have spent on lunch you should just take me shopping instead.”

Put Caitlin in a sitcom and she’s maybe an outrageously funny, over the top character. But put her in a real life agency (this story, I’m told, is quite true) and she becomes the agent of our demise.

Only the inimitable Lewis Black could conjure up the sputtering sense of outrage I feel about Caitlin. She epitomizes what is wrong and broken in the relationship between buyers and sellers, and she’s a ticking time bomb where it concerns the future of the agency planning business. But Caitlin’s not evil; she’s just a product of a system that may be rotting from within.

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Taking clients to concerts and basketball games and plying them with food and drink are, of course, institutional norms. But somewhere we crossed a line and it became commonplace for buyers to start expecting actual merchandise. A meal is with you for a day. But a trip to Ikea….NOW you’re talkin! While Caitlin may have been more transparent and brazen about the practice, it’s out in the marketplace in many forms. Like the Jeans Party, where a sales rep drops a few thousand dollars having buyers outfitted with custom made jeans….or the Sneaker Party, where ill-shod planners can get set up with $300 custom Nikes…or the conference presenter who promises new iPads to the first planning team who will take a meeting with him after the event. Heck, little Cait probably thought she was doing her reps a favor by designing a more efficient delivery system!

To sellers who may be tempted to go down this path, it’s not worth your time. You may think you’re currying favor and building relationships, but you’re really only the latest sucker to pick up the check. I hope that the sales leaders who read this will start to mentor their teams on what is and isn’t moral and effective. Share a great experience with your clients; spend your T&E money thoughtfully and imaginatively. But don’t be the iron claw machine.

To agency leaders: at a time when clients are turning the lens of procurement on the buying process and holding their own executives to ever-higher standards of conduct, do you really want this kind of exposure? How about some hard and fast policies that shut these troubling merch-fests down before they start?

I’m not sure what tipped me on this issue, and I’m sure my moralizing won’t be welcomed by a great many. And maybe I’m just naive, but when I imagine the future of this profession, I see more than a third-world country rife with “la mordida.” I guess I’ll only know from the comments that come in below whether I’m right. Sellers, have you felt strong-armed lately? Buyers, am I overstating this? Are there indeed policies in place to keep this stuff from happening? Please….tell me. I’ll be sitting over here waiting on my new couch.

21 comments

The bait and switch on lunch (accepting the invite and then blowing you off for only the most junior member at the door) has been going on for years and may never stop – some are truly busy and we all get that. But the fact that these folks continue to ask for more and more actual merchandise is astounding. My team and I have (in the past) done the sneaker parties and even custom jean parties.

Does it work? Sometimes!

One of my old bosses used to only let you go to concerts, games, etc IF the client was with you. Otherwise, that was not entertainment! It is just gift giving. Extravagant? Perhaps at times but this is what it gets down to. Pay to play.

I’m happy to see you write about this, Doug. It’s been a long-standing tradition of the industry’s private discussion lists for sellers to share horror stories about the wining/dining/etc. expectations of certain folks on the buy side. I’ve noticed that the horror stories have gotten progressively worse over the years – stuff that would make your Caitlin look like an angel in comparison.

What I’d love to see is more advertisers taking a long, hard look at some of these practices and the extent to which their own digital agency engages in this sort of behavior. How objective can these buyers be when sales reps are taking them on shopping sprees and sending over packages packed with expensive consumer electronics?

It wouldn’t surprise me at all if some sellers told you they were being strong-armed. I’m uncertain what other buyers would say. Here at my agency, we have policies in place. If buyers go anywhere with a sales rep, they have to be talking about the business. There are strict guidelines on corporate gifts, too. And they match or beat the policies in place at our clients’ organizations. If we didn’t have these policies in place, we wouldn’t be able to claim objectivity with a straight face.

Doug-
I share your sense of outrage.. It demeans everything about the process.
And what so many folks have yet to learn is how elusive and transitory all of that “relationship” building is. If there is no real relationship underlying all of this schmoozing, it is all too soon forgotten. And pity the person who actually thinks there is something of substance behind all the attention. The way relationships are built is the same in business and in life.. By sharing, by putting yourself out there in a genuine way, you invite meaningful connection.
Good for you for putting it out there.
Best,
Perry

There are four ways that a media property can create value for an advertiser. They are: 1) improve brand equity, 2) drive sales, 3) increase customer loyalty and 4) improve marketing efficiency.

Many media sales people come through the door going zero for four on the above list. If you can’t do any of these, or if you can’t at least make your case in this context, bribing the digital buyer starts to look like a pretty good idea.

I categorize this as “Stupid is what stupid does”. Why reps bother bribing low level people in the name of “building a relationship” is ludicrous. Have a POV. Bring some value. Throw some grenades. Solve some problems. Bring some great ideas. If you can’t do these things then avoid lunch and go lie down by your bowl.
Begging for business demeans all of us in the community.

I have seen the escalation of pay to play and sheer brazenness of media buyers. I wonder if the clients of these buyers would have a problem with the practice? I doubt they are aware of the extent this is happening “in their name” Car manufacturers instituted very strict guidelines on entertainment in the last decade and sellers are still able to entertain their clients but the field is leveled and it is all transparent. This blatant graft is another example of the entitlement this generation is already known for…

Thank you for drawing this point out. There are two sides of this topic, both of which are disappointing.

1. Many sellers resort to bribery instead of investing in bringing the value of their product to the discussion. They resort to socialization instead of thoughtful representation. This is disrespectful and a time waster to the agencies and clients they are meant to serve.

2. Many agency people are training the next generation of planners and buyers, to ignore the sales community, push a form to an email address to invite proposals, and then ask for that shopping spree.

What you didn’t say, directly, is that real relationships are different than the favor that’s curried by nice meal or the good seats at THE GAME. Real relationships are few and far between in sales, because there’s so much time spent posturing and so little time spent listening. And real relationships bring real value to BOTH SIDES of the equation.

Worth addressing is that thanks to the VC-backed startup model, every week there’s another 5-10 new media companies being minted. All with $3-5MM in vc cash and the ability to go out and hire a vp and 5 person sales team, regardless of whether they have something the advertising marketplace wants or needs.

On the digital agency side, you’ve got too few buyers being asked to evaluate a swelling roster of properties in digital, video, mobile, social, ad technology platforms, ad networks, apps, etc. There just isn’t enough time in the day. No other buying vertical, whether tv, radio, print, or ooh, has seen such an explosion of options in need of evaluation.

So enter a few bad apples on both sides, from sellers trying taking the easy route to get the meet, or, buyers holding out their hands in exchange for their time…either way, they do a disservice to both their respective employers and clients.

I think Tom’s agency policy is a step in the right direction. Going a step further, it seems like there is also a need to create centralized senior vetting committees at agencies who can be gatekeepers to buyers, helping cut down on wasted buyer time with irrelevant properties, thereby allowing buyers to spend more time with sellers who have a solid proposition for their clients.

Thanks for bringing this issue to the fore. The fact that Caitlin is asking for a shopping spree is only a symptom of the disease and it is affecting both the buy and sell side of the business. The disease is a lack of respect and professionalism.

You can start with the whole planning team cancelling lunch at the last minute, the likelihood that it took many phone calls and e-mails to get the lunch, sending only the most junior person who is probably the least prepared to discuss their client’s business, etc.

And the sell side is not much better. They don’t listen to a customers needs, they might not understand how to help the marketers achieve their goal, they send cookie cutter proposals that they never follow-up on, etc.

It would be interesting to know if this is a planning team for digital or traditional. Is there a difference in the level of respect/professionalism on the traditional side vs the digital side.

When I was on the buy-side, I got far more invitations to lunches, dinners, and events than I could ever accept — but I understood that building relationships was important too; so I came up with a simple solution:

Only spend time outside of the office with media partners that are “on the plan”. If a media company was not yet a partner — they were welcome to cater lunch for a meeting, etc, but nothing more. There’s no reason to leave the agency to “build a relationship” with a prospective media partner.

Looking back on my 22 years in the media business, the buyers and sellers that were cavalier (or greedy, or stupid) with all-things-expense-account-related are not leaders in the industry (and in most cases are no longer in the industry).

Have both been entertained in this manner and now at times am forced to entertain in it…not because of need, nor desire but because that is what it takes to get a meeting with the agency. Bribery. The agency world has forgotten that they are the eyes and ears of their clients, not the hands and mouths.

Doug, this article is great and so true. I’ve had somebody on my team tell me a media sup actually said that if my rep wanted to get on the RFP list, he’d have a much better chance if he had an iPad. Really??? At least send the insertion order and make it worth while!

I’ve even had a Jeans event with a dinner scheduled afterward. Everyone showed up for the jeans and ALL made excuses how they couldn’t make it to dinner later. “Thanks for the Jeans, but your presence is no longer needed. I can feed myself”.

But in all seriousness, with so many vendors vying for time with a small select group of people, it’s very common that you have to one up everyone else to get face time. Sad, but true.

Well – this post certainly struck a chord, Doug. I’ve seen this too many times myself. I think Keith may have summed up much of the issue with this:

“VC-backed startup model, every week – 5-10 new media companies being minted. All with $3-5MM in cash and the ability to go out and hire – regardless of whether they have something – needed”

Some of these firms are so desperate to break through the noise they resort to extremes.

As usual your points are excellent Doug, however, as with the ever present “Click Through Rate”, not sure if we’ll see any change here in the near future. Of course, when the machines replace both parties – that will end it.

I had a meeting at a major NYC agency this morning in a common area. Another sales person had a huge shopping bag of custom converse sneakers for a team there. His “meeting” consisted of distributing the sneakers, making a lot of noise, then leaving after 5 minutes. Nothing of substance was discussed. Made me chuckle and reference your article to the person I was meeting with. Her response: “Doug Who?” Ha!

One thought I haven’t seen addressed here is to question why exactly buyers feel the need to behave this way. The obvious reasons are immaturity and greed, but usually these are symptoms of a larger problem.

Start with the fact that most clients focus on paying the very lowest cost possible for their agency fee, rather than compensating them well (like your top salesperson) for good results. This can breed a culture of penny-pinching within the agency, which makes a young and overworked, already very low on the compensation scale, buyer seek perks to make them more content in their job. How many $200k employees, even if they were younger, would ask someone to take them shopping?

Good parents realize that their kids’ bad behavior starts with them. Good bosses should be the same. While I’m a big fan of self-responsibility and personal accountability, i also know that people can’t fix something in themselves when they don’t know what the right behavior is. Rather than trying to determine what is wrong with “today’s buyer”, let’s look at what drives this behavior and coach young folks who are new to the industry on how to handle these situations and work through a challenging but essential part of their career. Oh, and fixing the agency comp model would be nice too 🙂

Great post. I agree that the very best way to build a relationship with a prospective buyer is to show them the value (specific to them and their clients) of your offering. However, this kind of behavior on both sides in trying to “buy” your order with your expense account has been going on forever in both traditional as well as digital media. It usually stems from a weak seller who doesn’t know any better.

As my top entry in my Adverting Hall of Shame, I want to share my story of Betty Buyer at a major agency who was the lead on a major foreign auto account which was a big spender. She consistently seemed to raise the bar in gifts from sellers for personal gain in exchange for business. She would often say things “don’t take me to lunch, give me your credit card so I can have dinner with my husband” and actually would register (like a bridal or baby shower) for luxury items at Saks Fifth Ave and Bloomingdale’s twice a year on her birthday and Christmas. The sellers would eagerly participate. Ultimately, she was fired. BTW. I never called on her. I knew instinctively that this just wasn’t a good fit.